Piazza Bra'

Piazza Bra'

It is a vast area situated in the city centre and dominated by the imposing splendour of the Arena of Verona. The Bra' - it is called as a shortening of the term "braida" which means "wide" - represents, together with the Piazza delle Erbe and the Piazza dei Signori, the heart of the city It occupies the area where the Foro Boario once stood. It dates back to the 16th century: Sanmichele was largely responsible for the design of the urban layout and its com-pletion through the construction of aristocratic residences. It is embellished by a garden, the Fountain of the Alps, the Equestrian Monument of Victor Emanuel II (1883), and by aristocratic man-sions such as Palazzo Ottolini, Righettini, Guglienzi-Brognoligo (by Sanmicheli), Campagna and degli Honorij. Worthy of note is the Palazzo della Gran Guardia which marks the boundary of the southern side of the square: it is a seventeenth century work designed by Domenico Curtoni in the style of Sanmicheli. The building was completed in the 19th century and at that time ac-quired its neo-classical appear-ance. Main gates of the Bra' reate the monumental entrance to the square and were constructed at the behest of the Republic of Venice. Mention should also be made of the so-called Listone, a wide pavement (commonly known as the "marciapiedone") which runs alongside the town houses. Near the Main Gates of the Bra' are the Phil-harmonic Academy, the Phil-harmonic Theatre) and the Maf-feiano Lapidary Museum. The Museum, built in 1714 at the be-hest of Scipione Maffei, houses the collection of plaques, in-scriptions, urns and vases, gath-ered together by Nichesola, as well as all the other finds which were subsequently acquired. These include italic, Greek and Roman pieces originating from various archaeological areas in the Venetian region.

L'Arena